\u201cLive blogging\u201d in this case means that I expect to be popping over the the computer periodically over the course of the day, while things are in the oven, for instance, with a variety of Easter-y comments. \u00a0I should warn you not to expect any particularly profound reflections; these are just a few miscellaneous thoughts.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t really have any big Easter traditions around here. \u00a0Some years we go to my parents\u2019; this year we\u2019re staying at home both because my oldest is playing trumpet with the teen choir, and because we were just there last weekend. \u00a0My brother and his family are moving to suburban Milwaukee shortly, so maybe next Easter we\u2019ll invite them, or the reverse. \u00a0We also don\u2019t have any big traditions as far as meals, and it\u2019s been fairly relaxed this morning, largely because the teen mass is at 11:30. \u00a0And some years I go to Triduum services and others it\u2019s more of a mix-and-match.<\/p>\n
Last night I decided I needed a good dose of Easter Vigil, but didn\u2019t want to spend the whole evening there, so I left after the first hour, that is, just after the Litany of the Saints. \u00a0Did I cheat? \u00a0You tell me. \u00a0I knew I\u2019d be heading back today anyway (see above: \u00a0teen choir). \u00a0I do wish that the parish did a more complete Easter vigil rather than slicing away at some of the readings (only 4 + epistle + gospel), though I recognize that a two-hour service is already a tough sell (if you\u2019re not Orthodox, anyway) and that there\u2019s a balancing act going on. \u00a0Maybe I should call around: \u00a0\u201chow many readings do you have for the Easter Vigil?\u201d \u2013 but I know that there are other ways to do an Easter Vigil badly, besides taking shortcuts: \u00a0I recall one service I went to a while ago where they really, despite following the liturgy reasonably correctly (though I don\u2019t recall the particulars) they managed to place the baptisms and professions-of-faith front-and-center and really turn it from a celebration of the Resurrection into a celebration of these particular people joining their particular church.<\/p>\n
So tell me, what are your church\u2019s liturgies like (Catholic or not)?<\/p>\n
UPDATE:<\/p>\n
11:30 mass, followed by lunch, followed by a family walk; now my husband is watching The King\u2019s Speech with the older boys upstairs while my youngest and I have Big Hero 6 going downstairs in the living room.<\/p>\n
Mass was, of course, Easter-crowded. \u00a0I found myself wondering: \u00a0who are the extra people? \u00a0Are they the stereotypical \u201cC&E Catholics\u201d who go to church twice a year? \u00a0Is attendance at Easter as large, really, as at Christmas, anyway? \u00a0True, there are overflow chairs in the \u201cdonut room\u201d with the liturgy on the TV screen, but are these people who don\u2019t ordinarily go to church, or just all those people who do go to church, but just more sporadically, say, more like once a month or so? \u00a0(On the other hand, how many people really go on a \u201cregular\u201d but not weekly basis? \u00a0We\u2019re creatures of habit, after all.)<\/p>\n
Christmas church attendance, after all, I can see as a \u201cnice family tradition\u201d even if you are not really sure whether you believe that Jesus was anything other than a nice guy \u2014 because you can still perceive of Christmas as a nice metaphor for hope, in the same way as the Christmas Spirit has come to mean a generic feeling of joy, and, besides, everyone likes singing Christmas carols. \u00a0But Easter? \u00a0Can you really feel warm-and-fuzzy if the readings and proclamations are all about something you don\u2019t believe in \u2014 the Resurrection of Jesus? \u00a0Sure, there are people who call themselves Christian who believe that Jesus was just a man who said some inspirational things, but do they feel moved to show up at Easter?<\/p>\n
And lunch \u2014 yes, around here, we have to say \u201clunch\u201d as my husband just doesn\u2019t buy the idea that you call your main meal \u201cdinner\u201d even if it\u2019s the middle of the day (German doesn\u2019t have such a concept) \u2014 was good, but simple: \u00a0Aldi ham (but I splurged on the more expensive, pre-glazed version), green beans and bacon, pasta with Alfredo sauce, and zopf (German braided bread \u2014 basically, take a challah recipe but skip the egg wash). \u00a0I would have taken a picture but we didn\u2019t get the tablecloth out, and served things right out of the pots and pans, so visually it didn\u2019t win any prizes.<\/p>\n
In any case, here are a few links to share with you:<\/p>\n
From the National Review, a piece with the latest research<\/a> on the Shroud of Turin. The author, Myra Adams, marshals a variety of evidence to support claims that the Shroud is, indeed, authentic, from the corrected carbon dating to the time of Christ (initial tests had incorrectly used medieval patches), to pollen and dust native to the Holy Land, to the fact that the blood penetrates the cloth, but the image itself does not penetrate the cloth but appears to rest on top; a 2012 study \u201cstrongly suggested that the force causing the man\u2019s image to be imprinted on the cloth was radiation released in the form of an electrical discharge: in layman\u2019s terms, a burst of light and energy. This means that the Shroud may be proof not only of Christ\u2019s Passion and crucifixion but also of his resurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n What do I think? \u00a0I read what wikipedia had to say about the history of the Shroud<\/a>: \u00a0before 1390, there is no definitive history, just references to relics that may have been taken from Constantinope in the Sack of Constantinope in 1204. \u00a0Is it possible that the Shroud was kept by one of the disciples and then passed on through the generations, ultimately to resurface in medieval Europe? \u00a0Yes, of course. \u00a0Many things are possible. \u00a0Is it likely? \u00a0Not really.<\/p>\n If the consensus of reputable scholars is that the image is such that it simply would not have been possible for a pre-modern artist, of whatever skill, to have forged it, and that, what\u2019s more, the re-dating of the Shroud cloth itself to ancient times means that it\u2019s simply not believable that an Italian forger could have found himself in possession of such ancient cloth to work with \u2014 well, then, the reasonable thing is to draw the conclusion that is consistent with the available information.<\/p>\n But then: \u00a0is the Shroud miraculous? \u00a0Did God cause the image to come into existence, and protect it for all these centuries? \u00a0(though he sure didn\u2019t do a particularly careful job, as it was damaged by fire in the 16th century.) \u00a0Why would God do so, when he could make is presence known in far more unmistakable ways anytime he chose? \u00a0The statement above, that the image was caused by a \u201cburst of light and energy\u201d? \u00a0I don\u2019t know \u2014 I don\u2019t really see why Jesus would particularly need to emit energy in order to resurrect himself.<\/p>\n Second article: \u00a0it\u2019s just a snippet, really, the Bono version of what\u2019s been said multiple times, as quoted elsewhere on patheos<\/a>:<\/p>\n It\u2019s a defining question for Christians. Who was Christ? I don\u2019t think you\u2019re let off easily by saying He was a great thinker or great philosopher. Because, actually, He went around saying He was the Messiah. That\u2019s why He was crucified. He was crucified because He was the Son of God.<\/p>\n So, He either, in my view, was the Son of God, or He was nuts. Forget rock-and-roll messianic complexes, I mean Charlie Manson-type delirium. And I find it hard to accept that millions of lives, half the Earth, for 2,000 years, have been touched, have felt their lives touched and inspired by some nutter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Now, that\u2019s not quite an either\/or \u2014 the third view of Christ is what we see fairly often, that Jesus was a prophet to wanted to reform Judaism, make it less legalistic, and that anything in the scriptures that indicates he considered himself as anything more than a human was later additions by the early Christians. \u00a0In the view of these revisionists, it\u2019s mostly Paul\u2019s fault, as he shaped Christian beliefs through the epistles, written before the gospels where themselves written, just as Paul is the villain for Christianity\u2019s views on everything from homosexuality to women.<\/p>\n But, of course, once these revisionist scholars get their \u201cBible\u201d cleaned up of all of what they suppose to be inauthentic later additions and present what they deem to be the \u201ctrue\u201d words of Jesus, there\u2019s not much left, certainly not much reason for anyone to imagine that he came back to life (because these scholars also discard any truth the the Resurrection) and called them to spread his message, certainly not much worth dying for. \u00a0And it seems equally improbable that Paul would have convinced a group that had indeed set about on a mission of reforming Judaism (anticipating, apparently, the Jewish Enlightenment by 1800 years), that their dead mentor was, indeed, the Son of God.<\/p>\n MORE:<\/p>\n Speaking of secular people and Easter, Ann Althouse<\/a> just linked to the Obama\u2019s \u201cHappy Easter\u201d picture<\/a>: \u00a0Obama and the Easter Bunny, standing side-by-side, facing away from the camera and toward the Washington Monument. \u00a0There\u2019s another picture, too, of the family, on the White House lawn. \u00a0For Passover, there\u2019s a picture of the White House seder, and then there\u2019s a clip of a message from the president celebrating Easter and Passover. \u00a0Now, I haven\u2019t listened to this, but here\u2019s the sentence that the facebook page curators chose to highlight: \u00a0\u201cI hope that among our many blessings, we pause and give thanks for the chance to live in a country where everyone has the right to worship and pray and love as they choose.\u201d \u00a0This is so\u00a0obnoxious \u2014 using Easter as an opportunity to sneak in a pro-gay-marriage sentiment \u2014 that I don\u2019t have any interest in listening to the whole thing.<\/p>\n